The Blue Board

Electric or acoustic?

To be honest, i'd buy a decent used one with amp for ~$200 (electric, that is) and then move up as you see fit. The starter packs are generally low quality and you'll pay ~200-300 for those anyway.

pay a little extra and get a decent guitar.. there's no point in having a pos guitar that cant even stay in tune.

at the very least get an Epiphone for $350... but if you want to learn in style get a PRS SE.. you won't regret it.

If I were you id jump in with a stratocastet style cuz the necks a bit thinner and it doesnt weigh as much. Ive had three different guitars abd have been "learning" for like 6 years now. if you jump into say a les paul style which is heavier and has got a thicker neck to it, you may get discouraged easier.

around 200 and you can get something decent brand new from a music store, but check out pawn shops cuz ive heard people have gotten great deals there.

As far as lessons ive stuck to the teach yourself how to play method and I learned a few things (chords, a few scales, power chords) but I never praticed as much as I should have. A poster on here recommended a game called rocksmith where you actually plug in your guitar to your playstation ot xbox and you play songs similar to the way you would play guitar hero or rock band. The game will progress and get harder as you progress though, which makes it a decent learning tool. You start off playing notes and then it throws a power chord or two at you if you get to a point where it seems like you gotten good at playing the notes. Then it might give you a chord and then the solo. You can practice each part of the song at whatever speed you wish and whether you want to just play notes or power chords or a combination of both.

Nice post though :)

lead is much harder than rhythm.. are you starting with acoustic first then plan on moving to electric later? if so I would say skip acoustic and learn on electric.

This. lead guitar is pretty much all about electric. Rythm is generally acoustic. If you plan on learning lead, buy an electric. The reason is, you can still play rythm on electric, but playing lead on an acoustic is very hard to learn. The reason for that is because the strings on an acoustic are positioned higher off the fret board. If you ever hear someone say, "this guitar has great "action"", thats what they're talking about. "good action" is when the strings are closely hugging the fret board. Guitars with good action are easier to play lead on and are usually electric. Acoustics in your price range have strings raised more above the fret board and are hard to play lead on. So deff get an electric if you wanna learn lead. Id buy a cheaper amp, so you can find out if you like it. And the same rule applys to buying an electric guitar, go to a shop, plug a guitar in and play a little bit, see what you like.

What I have learned so far:

Spend the money on a decent guitar to begin with - I will do that

Get a thin neck for ease of learning

Electric is best for lead and acoustic is best for rhythm. Although it is not impossible to play lead on acoustic

Good action is a reference to the strings being closer to the fret - easier to play lead on.

YouTube prior to lessons for the basics then lessons for advanced play.

+1 to everyone who responded. Thank you

I have seen both online. I am very interested in the nylon for classical but I am afraid I might bite off more than I can chew starting with that.

Make sure you ask them if whatever your looking at has a solid top in that price range

Go to a store and play both. Do you have a friend that plays? Take him with you or ask a salesman for help. Ask lots of questions, then go home and research prices when you find something you like. It'll take a while to build up callouses on your fingers. Don't get discouraged.

Stell strings sound brighter and just plain better. Nylons can sound a little dull and less loud but are way better for your fingers. I'd start with nylons. You'll sacrifice sound but you can extend your practice time.

Agree, I had a yamaha for about $250, then a washburn, then my $900 Boulder Creek. Its always fun to upgrade!! And nothin wrong with buying used. Also, what Dr. Stache said above was good advise, elixer strings are awesome and they're built to last 3 times longer. They're my second fav string behind martins. Also the good Dr. advised you to go steel over nylon, DO WHAT THE DR. SAYS!!! Nylons suck imo, very dull. And for my last advise, if you plan on singing, buy a capo. Capos are clamps that attatch to the fret board. The purpose of capos is to be able to move a chord octave up or down into your vocal range. Say your playing a song in G and its to low for you to sing, you can move a capo up the fret board and even though your playing a G chord, the sound coming out will be a higher ovtave depending which fret you place the capo on. They're only like $20.